Dear Friends,
There is a sweet teaching about loving generosity in a commentary to our Torah portion, this week.
In short, we read that among the ritual objects in the ancient, desert sanctuary, was the show-bread, which was placed on a table by the ark and the altar in the Tabernacle which was moved and erected as we trekked in our 40-year journey. Torah simply states, “And on the table you shall set the bread of display…” (Exodus 25:30)
It was taught by the commentaries that this was to be a lovely, beautiful loaf, set before God, and that in every home, the lovely, most beautiful loaf was set before the master of the house, as well.
To this thought, Rabbi Samuel ben Meir, called the Rashbam, the grandson of the great Rashi, taught this story,
Reciting from the Book of Samuel, he recounted Elkanah giving his childless wife Channah the choice portion of the meal, apparently from the bowl placed before her husband. The master of the house is always given the best and choicest. Seeing that we are told that God had sealed her womb, but that her husband loved her best in spite of this, it is clear that he did what he could to pamper her as compensation for her grieving that she had not been able to provide her husband with children.
I love this story. The message is that magnanimity and loving-kindness are more important than all the remaining rules of society. In fact, it should be the governing rule of society. And, it takes next to nothing to fulfill it – only a big heart and a measure of empathy for another.
The story of Elkanah offering his “showbread” to his wife demonstrates that one should not rest on rituals or common customs when human needs are present. Moreover, when love and thoughtfulness are called for, one should suspend those rules and customs in favor of the dictates of the heart.
Jewish life may be replete with such rituals and customs, but it also demands that each person bear not only a mind by which to measure if an action is merited, or not, and a heart by which to feel the concerns and care of others. Our traditions are filled with stories and fables of great sages who chose to forego the rules of Shabbat to show kindness to a hungry congregant, or to miss Yom Kippur to provide firewood to a freezing widow.
Thus, the value of loving magnanimity, from the teaching of the Rashbam, touches our hearts!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
There is a sweet teaching about loving generosity in a commentary to our Torah portion, this week.
In short, we read that among the ritual objects in the ancient, desert sanctuary, was the show-bread, which was placed on a table by the ark and the altar in the Tabernacle which was moved and erected as we trekked in our 40-year journey. Torah simply states, “And on the table you shall set the bread of display…” (Exodus 25:30)
It was taught by the commentaries that this was to be a lovely, beautiful loaf, set before God, and that in every home, the lovely, most beautiful loaf was set before the master of the house, as well.
To this thought, Rabbi Samuel ben Meir, called the Rashbam, the grandson of the great Rashi, taught this story,
Reciting from the Book of Samuel, he recounted Elkanah giving his childless wife Channah the choice portion of the meal, apparently from the bowl placed before her husband. The master of the house is always given the best and choicest. Seeing that we are told that God had sealed her womb, but that her husband loved her best in spite of this, it is clear that he did what he could to pamper her as compensation for her grieving that she had not been able to provide her husband with children.
I love this story. The message is that magnanimity and loving-kindness are more important than all the remaining rules of society. In fact, it should be the governing rule of society. And, it takes next to nothing to fulfill it – only a big heart and a measure of empathy for another.
The story of Elkanah offering his “showbread” to his wife demonstrates that one should not rest on rituals or common customs when human needs are present. Moreover, when love and thoughtfulness are called for, one should suspend those rules and customs in favor of the dictates of the heart.
Jewish life may be replete with such rituals and customs, but it also demands that each person bear not only a mind by which to measure if an action is merited, or not, and a heart by which to feel the concerns and care of others. Our traditions are filled with stories and fables of great sages who chose to forego the rules of Shabbat to show kindness to a hungry congregant, or to miss Yom Kippur to provide firewood to a freezing widow.
Thus, the value of loving magnanimity, from the teaching of the Rashbam, touches our hearts!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
